Ask yer Granny!

WeegieWumman

I started married life with a coal fire. I struggled to light it every morning, even when using newspaper, firelighters and sticks all together.
The first time my son's friend first used a coal fire, he put the coal in the grate ON IT'S OWN and held the flame of his cigarette against it.
The advantage of a coal fire was that it kept the entire family in the room together, where they interacted with each other, instead of being scattered all round the house, each one doing their own thing.

VJsmum

My nan had a rayburn and mum said she used to volunteer to black lead it - it was her favourite job.

When i was little we had a coal fire in the front room and that was all - was a marvelous day when it was changed to gas with fake logs, a red bulb and a little wheel that went round for mock flames. I have had a couple of houses with coal fires and, whilst i don't mind them, we found that by time it had got going after we came in from work it was pretty much time for bed.

Our last house had a solid fuel boiler which was the same - we'd get in and stoke it up, it was roaring at bedtime and cold in the morning when we'd have to stoke it again to keep it in but by time we got home it was pretty cold again. We changed to oil after 1 winter. :rotfl:

prepareathome

I was born in the mid 50's in Scotland and come winter we would be dressed in flannel underneath - a flannel wrap round the tummy, undies and vest. It certainly kept us warmer than the house, except the kitchen - every window would have ice inside. We were lucky we had a indoor toilet but many friends didn't and they would freeze up. In primary school the caretaker would go into the toilets - outside at far end of playground - and break the ice in each before we could use them, then as the cisterns would be frozen solid the poor guy would have to empty a pail of water into each to flush them. School was never closed because of frozen toilets or no heat - we would just be told to stand beside our desks and taken through some exercises for about 10mins to warm us up. If a teacher had the gall not to turn up because weather was bad the class was just set some work with headmistress popping in and out to check all was well. Secondary school was the Grammer school so it was posher, inside toilets and heat throughout and was closed if pipes froze or heat off but that didn't happen often. Walking to secondary school used to be fun in winter walking through 3ft of snow across a park, there were some good hills there so anything that could be used as a sledge was used on them, and then as they were not allowed in the school, kept in some bushes in the park till home time and as far as I remember they were always there whatever they were sledge, tin trays or even pieces of wood. As where I live now we had such little snow each winter till past few years we used to take the children up to Scotland at least once in winter so they could play in the snow ( and visit relatives of course).

mardatha

I agree a coal fire is no good if you're both out all day LOL ! We've had over four foot here the last few winters but the school stays open. usually. I think because most of the kids come from farms and they use tractors to keep the roads open to the school.
I bet a whole generation of tips and tricks to use frozen outside loos has been lost forever

meritaten

I was a miners daughter and our 'free' coal would keep one fire going all year and another fire going for four to six months. until I was ten we lived with my nan and granch. The fire in THIER room was going for most of the year! not just because it was the back room and faced north - but because when it rained the washing got dried in front of it! my parents lit the fire in OUR room only when it turned cold - as it faced south and had a huge bay window. I fell in the fire as a toddler and badly burned my hand - I can still remember screaming in pain when my dad had to apply the 'hot' compress on it each day! mum tells me I am imagining that, as I was less than 15 months (when I was taken into hospital with TB). But, I swear I remember it- I can even remember the smell...........the compress must have been kaolin based as a bottle of kaolin immediately brings back those memories!
but it must have worked as I have no scarring - just a little numbness.
When we moved into our own home - we had the fire in the living room. The one in the front room was lit for christmas! the only time we used that room!
I can remember ice on the inside of the windows. and mum putting THREE hot water bottles in my bed the winter of 1962/3. every blanket, eiderdown etc was piled on the beds! we were so lucky to have an indoor toilet - but, with no central heating the cistern used to freeze up. mum would boil a kettle and pour it in in the morning then flush and hope to hell it didnt freeze until we went to bed!
The snow was three feet without drifts! our garden fence was invisible! and the COLD!!
!! it must have been a nightmare for mum. every time someone came in the door she would shriek 'shake that snow off your coat! take your wellies off and bang them outside!' and shut the bloody living room door!

suzybloo

My granny and Grandas' both had coal fires. Thats where I learned to make a real fire, and also keep a pack of salt in the coal scuttle incase the lumb (chimney)went up in flames. When it was slightly milder and they didnt need big fires they put fire bricks in each side, so that they didnt need so much coal and sticks. The kindling was chopped on the 'clog' outside the back door. We used to sit and pleat the daily newspaper into firelighters, so that not so much kindling was required. Once the fire was going it would be banked up with the 'dross' mixed with tatty peelings, and when it was the cardboard milk cartons on the 70/80's, the coal dust and fine dross was mixed with a bit water and then put in them to make briquette type blocks. In the bathrooms there would be paraffin tilly lamps which were used for heat rather than for light. If it was really cold, little fires would be lit in the bedrooms to take the cold air off them. I think just about every Granny had tartan legs from them being stretched out in front of the fire! I would dearly love a coal fire - but as we are semi detached I think next door would have something to say!!! Every door had a curtain on it, not just the outside doors, and curtains were drawn before it got dark. Washing was dried on the big nursery fireguard during the day and moved in the evening.

oh I want a coal fire - and I promise I wont moan about having to clean it out :-)

meritaten

I love my central heating! when I married we had an open coal fire with a back boiler for the 'wonder of wonders' central heating! an immersion heater too....so I didnt have to have the fire going for hot water!!! jeez I thought that was fantastic.
now - I adore my combi boiler and the electric fire in the living room! I absolutely hated that bluddy coal fire! no matter how carefully I 'banked' it in the night - it was ALWAYS out in the morning! and going out to get coal when it was piddling down was no joke either. and putting wet coal on the fire..............phewwwwww 'hold your nose' time!
and when putting the coal on the fire - remembering how obtaining that coal cost my uncle his leg, how most of dads brothers died young with 'the dust'. as did my dad..........but funnily enough the death certificates usually had pneumonia on them - so you couldnt claim comp.
I am glad to see the back of coal fires - not just because of the conditions of miners, but because coal is NOT an environmentaly friendly product!

Bitsy_Beans

All this talk of coal reminds me of the story of Centralia in the USA whereby an anthracite seam of coal has been burning underground for 45 years and will probably continue for several hundred more. Bet we could all have nice warm homes if we lived there. Apart from the danger of ground collapsing, or noxious gases sounds like the perfect place to stay for free underfloor heating :rotfl:

nannygladys

I was granny reared in the 50's and I can remember wearing a liberty bodice with little fabric covered buttons all winter.and wearing more to bed than in the daytime sometimes, as the fire in the bedroom was hardly lit, we also had a potty in the bedroom as the toilet was downstairs at the back, and ice was very regularly on the inside of windows in the winter. The fire was lit only in the kitchen and we only had a bath and hairwash once a week on a Sunday, we also didnt have clean clothes everyday cos of the drying I assume. I can also remember eating offal and bubble and squeak, not much was wasted and biscuits, cakes and puddings were a rarity. I remember dinner every Friday used to be fish, and tea on a Sunday was paste sandwiches followed by tinned fruit and evaporated milk!!! but there were many families worse off than us and food used to be taken round to a family round the corner to help them out. We lived in a terrace house with a long back garden and vegs, chickens and some neighbors even kept pigs.

Ny nanan(my other granny) used to make rugs and throws and did a lot of baking and perserving and used to keep chickens and I can remember collecting eggs and helping pod peas for drying and salting beans in big jars. I used to like her house as it was also warm and smelt lovely!!

When I was first married and had our children I didnt work and used to cook, sew, knit and make do but havent for years and as a result my girls cook but none own a sewing machine, knit or make clothes, which is a pity really. One is showing an interest in making things for her home but I think thats more due to Kath Kidston than me!!!

I'll stop now cos this thread is bringing it all back to me and its makes me realise how old I am!!!!!! I only realise it normally when I see myself in the mirror, Im only 25 years in my mind!

Jxx

ginnyknit

I remember donkey stoning the back step and having to negotiate an ice slide from the backdoor to the outside loo - hateful place that was with its lime washed walls. OOh gas lamps in caravans - delicate things they were. I had measles when I was little and had to have my bed in the living room so mum could still serve in the shop we had, the lights had scarves over them so I wouldnt hurt my eyes. Am I really only 52, I sound as if I come from a place long ago.

I was at a friends house a couple of years ago with some much younger friends and the lady of the house asked me to make up the coal fire - i did it in a few minutes much to the amazement of the friends who wanted to know why I was making rolls of newspaper into knots!

I have a small childs liberty bodice in my drawer complete with labels that I picked up from a CS years ago and kept as a treasure of the past even though I never wore one.

this thread is stirring some memories